Not-So-Limited Palette

 

11/5/26 photo reference (Derwent Drawing and Prismacolor pencils in S&B Zeta sketchbook)

November has been mostly dry so far, but colder than I like, at least for sketching. I get out for walks, but I can’t get motivated to stand on the sidewalk for a half-hour, which is how long this small (about 4-by-5 inches) sketch took – in the comfort of my toasty studio. Sigh – I’m not sure how much on-location practice I’m going to get during Pencilvember (weather is the main reason I’ve done this challenge exclusively from photos the past few years). At least I limited my time on this one to be realistic for on-location work, and it is the type of scene I would and could sketch from life under warmer conditions (unlike the one I practiced from a photo the other day).

I've seen other artists do this, and it's a great idea, but I rarely 
remember to do it: Make swatches of the colors I use right next to 
the sketch.

While I usually try to limit any palette to five or six hues, this colorful foliage scene was too much to resist, and I ended up using a whole rainbow. During my first couple of layers, I kept forgetting that I was using non-soluble pencils and expected to deepen every value and intensify hues with water. Then I’d remember and go back in for a few more layers. I love these pencils so much, though, especially on Stillman & Birn Zeta paper, that it was a satisfying and happy-making sketch.

Incidentally, this type of scene made of multiple layers of foliage fascinates and challenges me no end. I took the photo a few days ago from my upstairs deck. I had photographed it last May, too, thinking it would make a good study someday. I think it’s easier now with varying hues; the all-green look is even more challenging. I’ve included both photos below just because I always find it interesting to see seasonal changes of the same scene. I hope you do, too.

May 2026

November 2026

14 Years in the Making

More than 14 years and finally filled

Through summer, my mission to complete partially filled sketchbooks continued, but at a much slower pace. That’s because I was mostly sketching on location, and those unfinished sketchbooks had all been rejected from field sketching for good reason. I had no intention of using them during prime outdoor-sketching time! Now that the Big Dark has begun, however, I’m doomed to doomscrolling unless I make a concerted effort to avoid it (which I plan to do). My doomscrolling prevention program is still an ideal time to burn through less-than-ideal sketchbooks.

Dated 2/22/12, this sketch on the first page was made long
before my pandemic series of hand sketches!

With some recent sketches made from photos, I finally filled the last pages of this very old spiralbound, hardcover Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook – one of the first sketchbooks I ever began. In 2012, my first full year of sketching, I didn’t know yet what materials I liked, so I was trying everything. This book had three counts against it: It’s spiralbound, the paper is ivory, and it’s a heavy hardcover. I found only one sketch in it that I had made on location. I must have learned quickly that it was too heavy to haul around, especially with a spiral binding.

The sketch on page 1 is dated Feb. 22, 2012. After using it sporadically through 2016, filling a little more than half its pages, I abandoned it until this year. It’s especially nostalgic to see so many still lives made in the winter months when I was fully committed to drawing from life.

My goal (maybe more like wishful thinking) early this year was to fill all my uncompleted sketchbooks by year’s end. I don’t think I’m going to make it – I have at least three or four more to go – but it’s always satisfying to put another one up in the filled-book bookcase.

This sketch, dated 5/16/12, is the only one in the book made on location. I see that I turned the square book so that the spiral binding was on top -- a good solution for getting it out of the way.

2/13/13 Mostly still lives made with media experiments fill the first half of the book.

11/26/13 This was part of a fun still life series made of objects in alphabetical order.

8/21/14 My beloved first Rickshaw Zero Messenger Bag

2/12/26 A media experiment from a photo

Lifting

 

11/4/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood (Derwent Drawing pencil in S&B Zeta sketchbook)

The sun was already starting to come through by the time I got upstairs, so the morning fog was lifting rapidly. Under pressure to finish quickly, I thought for a moment that graphite would have been a better choice; I could have smudged the foggy effect more efficiently and effectively. (Ironically, the less smudgy benefit of colored pencils worked against me here.)

But I have that choice every day. The purpose of a drawing challenge (for me personally, not as a general rule) is to limit myself to whatever I’ve committed to for the month – and this Pencilvember is all about dry colored pencils. (And oooh, how I love having Derwent Drawing pencils in my hand again!)

Nose to the Ground

 

11/3/26 Derwent Drawing and Prismacolor pencils in S&B Zeta sketchbook (photo reference)

On one of my visits to Thornton Creek Channel last summer, I snapped a few photos of a young woman walking two dogs (my trick whenever I see people walking toward me that I might like to photograph is to wait until they’ve passed me, then turn around; I especially like to snap dogwalkers this way). She couldn’t seem to get them moving because one or the other or both kept stopping for a sniff. I’ve never walked a dog, but I imagine it’s like this more often than not.

I started with the pale blue just to block in the main subjects, so it
doesn't show much in the sketch. The darkest pencil at the bottom
is Derwent Drawing Midnight (6710), which isn't even part of my
Pencilvember palette. I have been keeping it in my daily-carry 
kit for a while, though, because it's a favorite for dark values
without being black.

Technical notes: When using reference photos, I prefer to choose scenes that I might actually sketch from observation because they make better practice. This one doesn’t really qualify because it would have been almost impossible to capture both dogs and their human to this level of detail in real time, but it appealed to me – both the subject matter and the composition. You can probably tell that I became more interested in the dog at left than any other part of the sketch! Nose down, tail up: I see dogs in this gesture often, so it’s worth practicing.

I want to call attention to the subtle modulations of value on that dog (and also on the figure, though less finessed). Even without much detail, I hope it reads well. This is exactly why I love colored (and all) pencils so much: You can’t do this with markers! Or how about that sketch I made the other day of our foggy morning? Impossible with markers!

Pencilvember is On!

 

My initial Pencilvember palette (all Derwent except those marked with P, which are Prismacolors)

Pencilvember is well under way, and you’ve already seen Day 1 from the Dia De Muertos post. Before I get too much further into the month, I wanted to show the palette I’m beginning with (mostly Derwent Drawing with a couple of Prismacolors). I’m sure I’ll change it out as the foliage changes, and as I learn more about how these colors are working. The goal for this month, however, will likely remain consistent: Practice using only non-soluble colored pencils (on location when possible).

11/1/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood
(This sketch is only about 4" square. I'm hoping that keeping sketches small
will compensate for dry colored pencils' time-consuming nature.)

For context: As mentioned in my initial planning post back in September, every now and then I get the urge to try using dry colored pencils, but my practice usually doesn’t last long. For many years now, I’ve relied on water-soluble colored pencils to do most of the heavy lifting on location. Activating pigments with water is such an efficient and effective way to intensify both values and hues that sometimes it feels like cheating.

I’ve practiced using dry colored pencils quite a bit with all the pet portraits I’ve made in the studio the past several years. That’s what showed me the inherent beauty of all dry pencils. No other medium has quite the same ability to convey subtle modulations of texture and value. I adore that look!

Using them in the field, though, is a whole different game. Dry colored pencils are a time-consuming medium. I already miss the speed and efficiency of water-soluble pencils, but I don’t want to get frustrated. Keeping sketches small should help.

My whole InkTober month showed me that using markers is exactly the opposite of pencils, and I missed them. Now I have a whole month to take on a relatively unexplored approach.

11/2/26 Maple Leaf neighborhood; Derwent Drawing pencil
(The challenge with drawing fog, which I think is made for pencil, is to avoid looking like I've achieved wimpy values and instead show that I intended them.)

Color and Joy at Dia De Muertos

 

11/1/26 Dia De Muertos festival at Seattle Center Armory

Dia De Muertos, the traditional Mexican festival honoring deceased loved ones, was an ideal way for USk Seattle to welcome the Big Dark (the outing was on the first day after the clocks fell back). Joyous and full of color, music and food, the Day of the Dead is a celebration that invites spirits back to the living world to join the festivities.

I thought the best way to immerse myself at the Seattle Center Armory was to walk around and capture bits of the festival (above). Huecha Omeyocan opened the event with glorious dance and music on the main stage. Although I missed all the movement and high energy, I tried to get at least the highly feathered headdress of one of the performers. With her face painted like a colorful skull, a young girl was learning to fold a traditional paper decoration. I also sketched a couple of the many colorful calacas characters displayed throughout.

When I got hungry, I stopped at a food stall to try esquite, which was like cream corn seasoned with chili and cotija cheese. While I waited, I caught a vendor making tostiesquites (seasoned corn chips that they serve right in the chip bag that has been cut open).

Fortified for the cold, I decided to go outside, where I found more Mexican food vendors.

More festival food vendors

Although I had used colored pencils in those sketches, I wanted to make one that was more in keeping with my Pencilvember objectives. In the time remaining before the throwdown, I made a quick homage to the Space Needle standing tall behind a wintry tree.

Space Needle

We had a fantastic turnout at a fun event!

My Mixed Media Eureka Moment

 

10/28/26 Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Museum Aquarelle, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens (photo reference)

Perhaps my Suflave cocktail had something to do with it, but I had a “Eureka!” moment. 

Being indisposed for most of the day, I decided to use the opportunity for more mixed-media experiments. You may recall from a recent post that while I appreciate how Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Brush Pens can be efficient for putting in the darkest of dark values, I don’t care for the hard, indestructible edges that markers make. I still haven’t found a way to make a smooth transition between waterproof markers and water-soluble materials like pencils and crayons.

I made another try (top of post) paying greater attention to the marks I was making, like dotting the Indigo Pitt marker lightly against water-soluble materials to soften the edges. Although this was somewhat better, I still wasn’t satisfied. Waterproof markers and water-soluble materials just don’t mix, I muttered, gulping down my beverage of the day.

Then the Eureka moment occurred: Faber-Castell Albrecht Dürer Watercolor Markers! While containing inks just as intense as waterproof Pitt markers (and in a matching color range), the Dürer markers are water-soluble. I have a wide selection of colors that I bought several years ago and messed around with for a bit, but I never got into them. I pulled them out for the next sketch.

10/28/26 Caran d'Ache Neocolor II, Museum Aquarelle, Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer Watercolor Markers (photo reference)

To make a direct comparison, I used the same reference photo as used when I talked about the benefits of Pitt markers in achieving darks (that sketch shown below). First I did most of the drawing with Caran d’Ache water-soluble pencils and crayons. I activated those parts first with a dry-ish waterbrush. Then for the darkest shadow areas, I used an Indanthrene Blue Dürer marker. This time, I used the blue marker in the background trees (which I avoided the first time because I didn’t want to lose the texture). As I did the first time, I used a magenta Dürer marker on the foreground bush. At this stage (I wish I’d remembered to photograph it), the Dürer markers had a similar pasted-on look as their waterproof brethren.

Finally, I used a dry-ish waterbrush gently and sparingly to soften the marker edges where they meet water-soluble materials. The difference is subtle, but I like the result much better. With all that gentle, fussy activation, some of the efficiency of using markers was lost. But I’m encouraged that I can definitely see on-location potential for this mixed-media combo.

10/26/26 This was the original experiment combining Pitt markers with water-soluble materials.

Eureka! Bartender, bring me another Suflave!

Whenever I’ve dabbled in mixed media in the past, I’ve had fun using a variety of materials together, but it often felt random – just throwing in this and that with no specific intention or purpose (other than maybe fun, which certainly isn’t a bad thing). What I prefer, though, is each medium having a purpose – speed, texture, color intensity, or whatever it does best – that makes it the right choice. I’m looking forward to putting this combo to work in the field.

Sadly, these insights came to me at the end of InkTober and just before Pencilvember, when I have committed to using no water-soluble materials at all! Well, there’s always mixed-media Mondays (that’s a thing, right? All I need is a hashtag).